1. )  The Coat of Many Colors – a blog by Kendra K.

2. ) Creating an Effective Connected Culture – a blog by Brett Moller

3. ) Black and White – a blog by Aaron Ivey

4. ) Rated ‘R’ Equals A Christian Nation - a blog by Courtney Braizer

5. ) blogspot blog.

6. ) Sleep Deprivation? – a blog by Audrey Melson

The room was dark. A faint sliver of light illuminated the mess that had taken over the once clean bedroom. Forty-two coke cans littered the desk on all sides of the computer and surrounded a teen hunched over a clacking keyboard. Laundry–clean and dirty– lie strewn across the floor, homework lie hopelessly underfoot–untouched and unfinished.

The computer clock read 3:15 am. It has been nine hours since Micah first logged onto the Second Life server. In that time he has defeated monsters, sold property, bought real estate and designed an elaborate and lavishly decorated home. He has also neglected his family, shunned his education, severed ties with friends, and separated himself from reality–or as he calls it, his First Life.

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You see, teens today have so much technology at their fingertips that it is plausible for them to actually craft a “second life”–a virtual one that is. But can people really balance having two lives? Second Life (and numerous other MMORPGs) says you can.

What is Second Life anyways? Secondlife’s website defines itself as “a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its [players.]” At a basic level, SL is your average RPG. However, what separates Second Life from other online gaming communities is that players–or Residents as they are called in the game– can actually edit the world around them. They can change the terrain, build objects and buildings, and even force the sun to move according to their whims. The game has become hugely popular among gamers in the adult world and has recently released a grid exclusively for teenagers.

Video games have been a huge part of this generation–I myself was raised on video games and I still play them occasionally with friends– so it’s no surprize that Teen Second Life residents spends more time inworld than the average Second Life resident by roughly 25%. Statistics show that Residents spent 25.6 million hours in Second Life this December. Some may say, no harm no foul! It’s all fun and games. But a study in 1998 showed that one out of four teens who play video games feel addicted to them, and are concerned about the lack of control they feel. Students who spend a lot of time playing video games are also prone to ignore their schoolwork and make poor marks.

With that said, I didn’t think it was right to write a blog post about the negative effects of games like Second Life without trying for myself. So I went and created a free account on SL to see what it was all about. All images are screen caps from my brief use of the game. A user can edit every aspect of their character, like so:

The interface is easy to use, though figuring out how everything works is a much harder task. The world is fairly easy to navigate once you’ve mastered the map and communicating with other residents is as easy as typing into the local chat.

The world of Second Life is also fairly complex, but impressive. A Resident has the ability to fly and teleport and this makes traveling a breeze. Here’s a glimpse at my Resident flying above someone’s custom built home:

Now, SL is an impressive system. But on a whole it seems to me to be a giant time-waster. A creative escape from real life. With more and more advances in technology, can we really allow games like these to injure our actual lives? Video games our desensitizing our generation to reality. It is a very real problem that we now face.

Usually I make it a point to sleep in on my days off, but Monday morning as I was off for President’s Day, I found myself scarfing down some pancakes along side friends while the morning news buzzed in the background.  I first turned my attention to the news when they began a story on a woman who payed $150,000 in order to have her dead pit bull cloned by a Korean company.  Mildly interesting, though a bit too remenicsent of pet cemetary for me.  The following story, however, was shocking to me.

 Edward E. Scott, age fourty-four, was arrested after a sting operation in which an officer posed as the mother of young twins in an online forum.  He chatted with “navydubletruble” online and the conversations became “very graphic and specifically involved the ‘mother’ and both [fictious] children”–who were said to be twelve.  He then arranged to have sex with this “Navy Wife” and her children in a motel room.  He was greeted by the police when he arrived, was arrested, and eventually pleaded quilty to attempted child rape and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes a month later.   This is not the most shocking part, however, as we all know that these evils occur almost daily out of camera range.  What is shocking is the utter lack of real or effective punishment.  Whereas he faced a seven and a half year sentence, he got off with only nine months in prison and must undergo a 3-year sex offender treatment program. 

He has since completed his sentence, and has been allowed to retire from the navy with an honorable discharge and full benefits.  You read that right, “honorable” discharge.  Last I checked, attempted rape was anything but honorable.  The fact that this man has served our country is great, but it by no means makes him above the law.  It by no means diminishes what he has done, nor does it excuse his behavior.  He deserves punishment for what he intended to do–what he could’ve actually done and perhaps gotten away with if it hadn’t been for the officer that set up the sting. 

The Secret has taken the world by storm. Thanks to genius marketers and The Secret’s number one fan, Oprah Winfrey, almost everyone has read it–or at least heard of it. The trailer above was taken from The Secret’s Official Website (what a fit of joy Mrs. Huff might have analyzing all of its marketing ploys) where it defines the secret as “the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.” Sounds great, so where has this “secret” been hiding? According to the less-than-subtle allusions in their trailer, the secret is what has made all of the greatest men of history great, and what has been hidden and rediscovered and is now waiting for you to discover it. It’s almost reminiscent of an action flick, a National Treasure that applies to the everyday person if you will. So could this be for real?

Many people seem to think so. The Secret reveals the “Law of Attraction” a principle that posits that people’s feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into their lives; from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. The film also suggests that there has been a strong tendency by those in positions of power to keep this central principle hidden from the public. One dedicated follower even said, “I’ve seen kidneys regenerated. I’ve seen cancer dissolved.“

You’d think with a “secret” this big, they’d be dying to share it— and they are. For a price. For example, not only can you download the movie (for money), you can buy The Secret Lamp (“your real-life Aladdins Lamp” – $49.95), The Secret Scroll Document Holder ($49.95), the Wealth Beyond Reason Starter Pack ($17.00 – and what exactly is Wealth Beyond Reason anyway?), the Wealth Beyond Reason Power Pack ($37.00), the Secret Book ($23.95), the Secret Audio Book ($29.95), The Secret Soundtrack ($21.95), join the free forum (of course, the fee based “Abundant” membership is highly encouraged), and so much more. For money. But with all that Wealth Beyond Reason coming your way, why not spend a little?

Apparently, if you think positively good things will happen to you, whereas if you think negatively you will attract negative things to you. That fails to answer the age-old question that so many ask: “why do bad things happen to good people?” According to the Secret if these people had just made a vision board, they’d have never gotten in a car accident, or perhaps been one of the victims of 9/11, or lost their wallet. Likewise, if you think positively about a new job, it will come to you. “The world is more magical than we think,” quips one supporter of the Secret while on the Oprah show earlier today.

The most upsetting part of The Secret is not the obscure, mysticism, but rather the arrogance and materialism that it encourages. It teaches that you should make yourself like God and control the way that the Universe treats you–as if something like that were possible. It tells you that you deserve to have an excess of wealth and possesions and that it is possible –and even spiritually right–to achieve this using The Secret.

The Secret is shocking, not because of its content, but because of the number of people it has actually convinced. I’ve watched as my own mother has been blissfully deceived by this ridiculous hoax–this snake in the grass. The last thing our culture needs is more self-centeredness and yet here we’ve managed to glorify it in a way that is amazing to me. It reminds me of how correct Jesus was to compare mankind with sheep–what confused little sheep we are indeed.

There is a war raging in northern Uganda. A war that has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergancy in the world today. The war began when Alice Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her and ordered her to overthrow the Ugandan government for being unjust to the Acholis. However after Lakwena was exiled, Joseph Kony took leadership of the Holy Spirit Movement and transformed it into the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and enforced extreme tactics that lost the support of those who supported the original Holy Spirit Movement. With little support for their cause and heightened government offensives, the rebels resorted to abducting children and indoctrinating them into their ranks. It is estimated that around 90% of LRA soldiers are abducted children, and it is widely believed that this group could not survive without them.
For the past 21 years, the Ugandan government has failed to protect its citizens from this rebel militia that has murdered mothers and buried the young, leaving an entire generation of youth that has never known peace. When three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story they discovered this tragedy that both disgusted and inspired them. They created the non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. in order to help. In 2005, Invisible Children started the Bracelet Campaign; here’s the statement made on their website:

After decades of conflict, northern Uganda’s economy has been decimated. Millions who once relied on the land to provide for their families have been relocated to IDP camps where they must depend on insufficient rations from international aid. In 2005 to help provide economic opportunities for these individuals we created the Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign—an initiative that simultaneously provides jobs in the displaced community, while raising awareness around the world.

Reed and recycled wire is delivered to people in the IDP camps where they are handcrafted into bracelets. This provides work that Acholi’s would otherwise would not be able to obtain. The bracelets are then shipped to the US along with a video that tells the story of a child in northern Uganda. Each color bracelet represents a child affected by war: Black is for Sunday, Red is for Emmy, Green is for Grace, White is for Innocent, Yellow is for Ketty, Gray is for Joyce, Blue is for Rosalyn, and Brown is for George.

WHO THE CAMPAIGN HELPS.
Invisible Children employs people based on vulnerability. They communicate with leaders to find out people’s history, family situation and home situation. They then train the person in bracelet making and supply them weekly with the neccessary materials. 180 Ugandans are employed through the Bracelet Campaign.

CHANGE THE WORLD.
Would you buy a bracelet to employ Ugandans and to spread awareness?

In our society, excess is a “need”, but these people in IDP camps are living in real poverty. They don’t have the opportunity to own an excess of clothing, an excess of food, or an excess of anything. Their needs are real needs. Needs that their government will not meet, needs that they cannot meet alone, needs that we must lend a hand to fulfill. If you buy a bracelet for them, what will you be giving up? A new DVD? The latest trend?

Is it worth it?

You walk into the store, hopes high and wallet burning in your pocket, knowing exactly what you’ve come for. You even wrote a list. But as you enter, your senses are bombarded by clever advertising ploys–ploys you can’t even recognize or identify. You don’t know what it is that suddenly possesses you to buy that CD by a band you heard once in your friend’s cousin’s foyer, nor can you rationalize why you suddenly need a new blender and cappuccino maker and just never realized it before. It’s a mystery to you and you like to keep it that way. You simply buy your items (though you managed to not secure everything you had on your list to begin with) and diagnose yourself as an impulse buyer with severe ADD. But this is probably not the case. What is more likely is that you have fallen prey to the wiles of advertising and production companies who are now putting their best into a different strategy than before.

Rather than persuade you into buying–they’ll serenade you will aesthetic beauty and graphic design.

A graphic designer is a professional who who assembles

together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of art. This was nothing more than creating logos and letterheads in the past, but the industry is growing as we develop more of an interest in the aesthetically pleasing world of art and begin to mix it into everything–advertising, products, websites, cd covers, etc.

Functionality is important, but now a simply functional product is not enough. It has to look good as well. I don’t suppose you ever pondered why there are so many different shapes and sizes of toilet brushes ( I mean, aside from making the job of cleaning one’s toilet more enjoyable) available now-a-days. You can’t even purchase a regular toilet brush– you have the choice of the simple and elegant classy version (with a new and improved grip which you don’t really need–but it sure looks nice) and the modern, neon power-cleaning brush full with lasers and whatnot. None of these add-ons are necessary to clean your toilet. But the design attracts your attention and therefore increases the competition between companies to make better and more attractive designs.

Another factor that is making graphic design more important in our current culture is the intense competition of companies causes them to rely heavily on adverts. These adverts must continually grow more and more clever to draw attention to their employers. I read a blog about hidden symbols within logos and how much thought is put into them. You can see it here. Without logos like these, businesses could not attract the sort of attention necessary to keep them afloat. Naturally, graphic design is a big business and its important for people to begin learning it now. The cd cover above was designed by Teagan White, a seventeen-year-old high school student who realized the potential market for her skills.

Change is the only constant–and graphic design is not just something that we can pass off as an “artist’s thing”. It is becoming completely ingrained in our every-day life and unless we can become knowledgeable about design and its effects–we’ll end up with a cart full of products we don’t want and a hole in our wallets.